Sunshine Liveaboard, Indonesia

Excellent food and drinks

“Hike up Pula Dua”

Alex C, United States United States
Read 11 more reviews

Highlights

  • Dive into Indonesia's best diving spots
  • Nitrox available on board

KLM Sunshine is a 30-meter-long, intimate liveaboard and member of the Blue Bay Divers. Sunshine Indonesia offers guests 2 double cabins on the lower deck and 2 double cabins on the upper deck. All cabins are equipped with private bathrooms. The lower deck cabins are equipped with air conditioning. With a maximum of 8 divers, there is plenty of space, and guests receive personal attention for a fantastic diving holiday. The onboard restaurant serves delicious meals throughout the day. Guests may relax in the lounge, equipped with charging stations and a large sun deck with comfortable seating.

Sunshine offers guests 3 dives daily in Halmahera, North Sulawesi (Lembeh and Bunaken), Sangihe Islands, and Buyat Bay in the Indonesian archipelago. Diving amenities include a spacious dive deck, rinse tanks, a dive station, Nitrox, and dive guides. The pristine waters of Indonesia are home to a thriving ecosystem of over 600 species of coral and 3,000 species of fish. Diving with KLM Sunshine Indonesia is truly an unforgettable diving holiday. Reserve yours today.

Please Note: KLM Sunshine Liveaboard's policy is for all divers to use Nitrox. Please see the exclusions for prices.


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Included: VAT, Drinking Water, Tea & Coffee, Beach BBQ, Full-Board Meal Plan (All meals), Snacks, Diving Package, Land Excursions, Snorkeling Guide, Beach Towels, Cabin Towels, Deck Towels.

Required Extras: Fuel Surcharge (100 EUR per trip), National Park Fees (100-200 EUR), Port Fees (100 EUR per trip), Airport Transfer (40 EUR per activity), Hotel Transfer, Local Transfers (90-200 EUR per trip), Nitrox (100 EUR per trip).

Optional Extras: Dive Insurance, Travel Insurance, Gratuities, Alcoholic Beverages, Soft drinks, Extra Dives (35-70 EUR per activity), Nitrox Course (100 EUR), Rental Gear, Scuba Diving Courses (70 EUR).

Book now, pay later: You can easily place your booking online. We will then hold the spaces for you and you can confirm with a payment later.

* Extra fees are shown per person.

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Boat features

  • Camera Station
  • Daily housekeeping
  • Audio & video entertainment
  • Library
  • Aircon Cabins
  • Sun Deck
  • Indoor Saloon
  • Warm Water Showers
  • Outdoor Dining
  • Camera room with table and charging point
  • Custom built for diving
  • Charging stations
  • En-Suite bathrooms
  • Non-Smoking Rooms
  • Outside Showers
  • Family Cabins
  • Seaview Cabins
  • Snorkeling Equipment
  • Separate Rinse for u/w Camera
  • Dedicated Local & International Crew
  • Nearly 1:1 Crew-to-Guest Ratio
  • Leisure Deck
  • Observation Deck
  • Available for Charter

Food & Drinks

  • Western Food
  • Local Food
  • Vegetarian Options
  • Buffet style
  • Beer available
  • Snacks All Day
  • Fine Wines Selection
  • Beach BBQ
  • Half-board Option
  • Full-board Option

If you have any specific dietary requirements whilst on-board your cruise, you can add this to your special requests on step 2 of the booking form. We advise limiting these requests to religious beliefs or food allergies.


Diving

  • DIN Adaptors
  • Nitrox available
  • Dive deck
  • Tenders for diving
  • Shaded Diving Area

The crew speaks English, German, and Indonesian.


Gear Rental

There is diving gear available on this boat. Please provide your rental needs on the booking form. See below for further details on inclusions and pricing. Show prices.


Drawings & Vessel Layouts

#deckplan floorplan

Boat Specifications

  • Year built 2011
  • Year renovated 2014
  • Length 31 meters
  • Beam 7 meters
  • Top speed 9
  • Cruising speed 7
  • Engines Mercedes OM423 470PS
  • Max guests 10
  • Number of cabins 5
  • Number of bathrooms 5
  • Tenders Yes
  • Water capacity 14000 liter
  • Fuel capacity 5000 liter

Boat Navigation and Safety

  • Radar
  • Depth Sounder
  • GPS
  • Radio VHF/DSC/SSB
  • Emergency Rafts
  • Life Vests
  • Fire Alarm & Fire Extinguishers
  • Oxygen
  • First Aid Kits
  • Fishfinder
  • Search light
  • Crew trained in first aid

Sunshine Reviews

  • 8.6 Fabulous
  1. Vessel
    8.2
  2. Crew
    8.7
  3. Food
    9.1
  4. Diving
    8.7
  5. Value
    8.2
  • 8.0 Very good
  • Alex C
  • United States United States
Intimate setting for less traveled area

Hike up Pula Dua

Recommended for
Friendliness of the crew, I crowdedness, small number of divers
  • 8.0 Very good
  • Steven W
  • United States United States
Good diving and Guides

I enjoyed my time on Sunshine and I found the dive guides to be good although we ended up spending more time in Lembeh Strait than we anticipated because the weather to the south pushed us back into the calm waters of the strait. The crew on board were good--as was the food. The only issue I had was that I was assigned to a bed that was far too small (okay if you are under 5' tall maybe), but I chose to sleep on deck some nights and was allowed to sleep in other's bed when they slept on deck. If you are a solo traveler and book the lower cabins you might want to check and make sure you have not been assigned the the "emergency" bed. Other than that I would happily recommend the Sunshine.

Recommended for
Good Guides, Good Group, Good Food
  • 10 Exceptional
  • Linda M
  • United States United States
Halmahera - Macro Paradise for Photographers!

Fantastic trip. Lots of macro critters to photograph. Our dive guide found so many pygmy seahorses I lost count. Seas were rough but captain and crew did a great job to manage the situation. Highly recommend this boat and crew!

Recommended for
Dive guides, location, macro critters
  • 7.2 Good
  • Joanne T
  • Canada Canada
Oversold, Under Delivered.

Sunshine Liveaboard “Halmahera Trip” by Blue Bay Divers, Sahaung, Indonesia We booked this trip on the Sunshine with high expectations after reading their promotional material. We made our original booking in mid 2019, to depart in spring 2020. The trip was put on hold due to Covid and we were offered new dates in September 2023. We started seeing poor reviews just before we set out for our vacation in August 2023, but were still looking forward to the trip hoping that the service the reviewers had experienced were isolated incidents. We had booked with a company with a European owner expecting a higher level of service than locals sometimes provide. Sadly, the Sunshine, is suffering from a lack of care and investment, her last refit was more than 10 years ago, and she is overdue for another refit. The description used on the “Blue Bay Divers” website and on Liveaboard.com in no way matches the reality of the experience provided. The local staff are friendly and caring and do their best to make the trip enjoyable. They work with limited resources which allows them to provide at best, a basic diving trip. The backgrounds of the guests on our trip of 10 guests included an ex GM of a dive company, Professional Dive Instructors, Dive Masters, and Dive Guides; most of us with in excess of 1000 dives. 2 of us own our own companies and most of us have management experience, managing employees in several countries. We have all been on multiple Liveaboard dive holidays in Egypt, Thailand, The Maldives, Australia, so we understand that life on a boat is less comfortable than on shore. The Diving. This is what we all came for. The trip is sold as being an adventure exploring unspoiled reefs in an area that is not often dived. Out of about 30 dives we only saw maybe half a dozen pristine reefs, the other dive sites consisted of reefs damaged or destroyed by dynamite fishing or on one very bad day 2 dives on just white sand with no visibility! The team on the boat are programmed to dive in the same places unless conditions make it impossible to dive. After the day of 2 sand dives, the guides were proposing to dive the same area again, at this point the guests suggested diving a different area and one of the customers took one of the guides for a ride in the tender to do some research for a better location close by; they found a lovely reef where we did 2 very enjoyable dives. The local guides did nothing more that put on a mask and put their head in the water to decide if a place was worth diving. All the diving takes place from a small fiberglass tender, divers must step from the boat deck into the tender in full kit, then on your return step out of the tender onto the boat deck. This can be very difficult when the waves are a little bigger than normal. The use of Nitrox is compulsory on the Sunshine, they charge extra for the Nitrox and the rental of a “Nitrox” cylinder, however the percentage they provide is only 25-26%! They cannot provide a higher percentage as they are waiting for a new membrane from Germany, surely if Nitrox is compulsory there should be a means of providing the normal standard of 31-33%, not having a backup membrane is poor planning. During the trip a few “O rings” failed, but the crew does not have a spares kit of such basics. Again, it was one of the guests came to the rescue supplying the required rings from his own kit. The Guides. There are 3 guides on the boat, one of whom is also the cruise director. All three are good at finding the macro creatures that we wanted to see and photograph. Sadly, two of the guides did not adhere to the standards that “Blue Bay Divers” make their guests sign up to: The statement that divers have to agree to is: I, __________________________________, am aware that I will be diving in a sensitive eco-system. In order to minimize my impact on the marine environment:  I will not touch any marine organism or their habitat and will not wear gloves.  I will be aware of my unde

Recommended for
Great Crew, Some Good Diving, Macro Life
  • 4.0 Review score
  • John H
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
Don’t do it

The journey was long and nauseating, even the crew were ill. The boat is badly in need of a refit. Our cabin was small, bathroom sink leaked, only occasionally had hot water, tiles falling off, aircon was directly over bed and dripped and on the next to last day water soaked our bed and closes. Food was ok but certainly not gourmet just basic Indonesian with rice veg and a meat every meal We were told Nitrox was compulsory and charged for it as we were a long way from help. We were then only provided 25/26% as they need a new membrane The dive sites were a mixture of good and poor The crew did their best but the management has many questions to answer

Recommended for
The crew worked hard
  • 10 Exceptional
  • Anna D
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
If you like the little critters this is the boat for you@

We loved this livaboard we saw many new macro species such as, frog fish, nudibranci, ghost pipefish, cuttlefish fish, seahorses, pigmy seahorses, crabs, bubble shrimps and many other things. The crew and guides were fantastic. Just looked at there other trips for next trip!

Recommended for
Macro, crew and shore trips.
  • 10 Exceptional
  • brent B
  • Canada Canada
Simply Awesome!!

Whale Sharks

Recommended for
Great Diving, Food & People
  • 8.0 Very good
  • Natalie W
  • Australia Australia
Fantastic holiday with great crew, comfortable boat & awesome diving!

The onshore BBQ , so lovely and fun too The diving of course The fun atmosphere on the boat with everyone including the crew

Recommended for
The helpful & friendly crew, the yummy food & the dive spots
  • 10 Exceptional
  • Susan D
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
Fantastic trip, couldn't fault in any way

Exploring remote islands in Indonesia and mostly on our own, a good variety of dive sites, every meal was a culinary delight, quantity of people perfect for size of boat 10 guests and 9 staff, lovely wooden boat full of character and very comfortable.

Recommended for
Food, dives and staff
  • 10 Exceptional
  • Sara-Jane G
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
A great group of like minded divers, fabulous crew, amazing food and spectacular diving

Spectacular dive sites with only your boat on it. Brilliant Dive guides Indra and Arman where brilliant critter spotters and great guides too. Beautiful BBQ on the beach. Banded Pipe Fish, Ornate Ghost Pipe Fish, Frog Fish, White, Black Tip and Walking Sharks - Critters and big stuff!

Recommended for
1. Diving 2. Food 3. Crew/Guests